Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, who helped prevent a massacre on a French high speed train Friday, said, “I found that the primer [of the bullet] was struck by the firing pin, which means that he tried to fire it [gun] but it had a bad primer. So, it didn’t go off.”
Skarlatos, along with Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone and their civilian friend Anthony Sadler, risked their lives to save others by wrestling a Kalashnikov rifle and handgun from the assailant when they were on a train from Amsterdam to Paris.
Alek Skarlatos: I knew we had to do something, or he was just going to kill people. I mean, he wasn’t shooting at the time, so I figured it was good time to do it. I looked back and I saw a guy with an AK and a handgun entering our cab. And so Spencer and I ducked down, and I just said to Spencer, “Let’s get him, go get him.” And Spencer jumped up and ran at the guy probably 10 meters away and grabbed him. I followed right behind Spencer and grabbed the handgun and wrestled the handgun away from him. Once I cleared the AK, I found that the primer was struck by the firing pin, which means that he tried to fire it but it had a bad primer. So, it didn’t go off. The training did kick in after it was over, when it came to making sure nobody else was in the car, like nobody else was injured. I helped Spencer with the injured guy, making sure he didn’t have any chest wounds and cutting the clothing off of him. Spencer is the real hero because if he didn’t, if that guy still had the gun, Spencer would have been the first one to go.
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